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Harper aggravates left knee, doesn't start in nightcap

Harper aggravates left knee, doesn't start in nightcap

7/26/13: Bryce Harper sprints toward left-center and slides to make a tough catch on a sinking liner off the bat of Daniel Murphy

By Bill Ladson and Tom Schad
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MLB.com |

WASHINGTON -- After the first game of Friday's doubleheader against the Mets, manager Davey Johnson said that Bryce Harper had aggravated a left knee injury. Harper was out of the starting lineup for Game 2.

In the fifth inning, Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy hit a flare to left field and Harper ran up to make the catch. He banged his left knee on the ground during the process and was replaced by pinch-runner Scott Hairston after singling in the eighth.

"I think he dove on that ball and kind of aggravated it a little bit," Johnson said. "Afterward, he was limping a little bit. Seemed to be still running OK."

Harper pinch-hit in the nightcap, grounded out to shortstop in the eighth inning and didn't appear to be limping.

Harper missed the entire month of June with bursitis in his left knee. The Nationals sought a second opinion from renowned specialist Dr. James Andrews, and Johnson said in June that the bursitis could return at any moment.

"Bursitis, it could come back with one slide," Johnson said on June 22. "It could come back bumping into the wall. But just, I mean, is it going to get any worse from regular playing? That's the only thing I have concern with."